I have recommended WebHostingBuzz for a while for the services provided as well as the quality of those services (including outstanding support). Since they have data centers in both the US and UK, I'd recommend you look into the .co.uk website.

After trying many hosting companies in the EU , UK and USA I have gone for a VPS with a company called Hostwinds in the USA and not only are they competitive price wise, the VPS plan I have is great. I have a managed plan and their support is second to none. I have a fair few Wordpress sites on the server which are running a lot of plugins which can be heavy on resources and my plan as coped really well so far.

Yes there as been some issues from time to time, however the support staff have always managed to sort things out in a timely manner.

I know its not a EU hosting company, but I my opinion they are worth checking out <snip>

Hi I currently run about 7 Joomla sites with low traffic using tsohost and I am not so happy with the performance (though its maybe fair given the cost which is low) and the fact that I share the ip with thousands of sites and a few adult sites.I would like to know why there is no middle option. I do find them to be very responsive for support but at times I dont find I have the full control I need for example to get log files (since the log is shared with 150000 sites)Clearly I have outgrown this cheap shared option which would be suitable for a lot of small businesses who just need a few pages.

For me it looks like it jumps from around 50 quid per year to 1000 per year - isn't there anything in-between?

For the various hosting options:Which kinds limit the number of sites sharing the ip (I know there is a limit in general out there and hosts need to really limit them) ?Do I manage the linux box myself if for example it is cloud hosting.I need from time to time for example to set some php.ini things specific and can I do this per site for example. I am used to doing quite a lot myself via SSH. What would be my best bet.

I used to understand the options in hosting were as follows

shared managed host service (many customers run off the same physical box (server)) this didn't used to mean 15000 sites shared 'my' IP though.private box where you rent a server and configure it yourself (its a big part of anyones week maybe to keep it going and one might need) isn't there an option to get a server that is all mine with an ip so just MY sites share the ip. (I know ip's can be had by buying an SSL for a domain)

Now I see 'cloud' which confuses me and seems to be not used in the sense that I understand what cloud computing is. The cloud for me is like amazon s3 where they provide services that could be anywhere and reduce costs for companies and are available anywhere. How can hosting be cloud if its sitting on a server in a center?

Also how can I know if I am getting resold something - I think I might be able to tell but would be good to reduce the middle men.

My budget would be up to 500 per year but rackspace for example offer from about 150 per month. So where is the middle better ground ?

Rackspace cloud servers (as opposed to cloud sites which is a different product) start at about £12 a month, and this is a typical cost of a low end vps server. These are unmanaged (you have to take care of installation and maintenance) but you can pay extra for a managed service at some companies. A lot of what is referred to as cloud hosting is actually just vps.

I would like that hosting companies stop using the word cloud as for me this is a concept of cloud computing. Its really not the same as saying ok we are hosts and we get asked do we do cloud hosting - lets start saying yes guys !Can anyone out there tell me I am an idiot (dont click quick reply just yet)

Cloud ComputingMaking my IT services available to my clients my employes my steak knife holders to them from an internet connection. with a secondary idea that I can just easily ramp up and scale down my needs with demand.

Cloud HostingSame old hosting with the word cloud in it. For example I by cloud space or whatever you call it, and a guy in australia hits my url DNS routes to the server in europe NOT Australia...where the closest cloud is.